Watch Live: Young Immigrants Rally In DC To Call On Congress To Save DREAMers
Watch Live: Young Immigrants Rally In DC To Call On Congress To Save DREAMers
(Interview with Ana Maria Archila at 1:09:10)
(Interview with Ana Maria Archila at 1:09:10)
Watch the full video here.
Advocates of minimum wage hike raise more than $1.4 million
Advocates of minimum wage hike raise more than $1.4 million
Proponents of hiking the state’s minimum wage have already collected more than $1.4 million to put the issue on the November ballot and convince voters to support it.
But there’s no word on...
Proponents of hiking the state’s minimum wage have already collected more than $1.4 million to put the issue on the November ballot and convince voters to support it.
But there’s no word on how much the Arizona Restaurant Association has spent so far trying to keep Proposition 206 from ever getting to voters.
New campaign finance reports due Friday show donations of $1,357,509 to Arizonans for Fair Wages and Health Families, with another $100,000 on loan from campaign consultant Bill Scheel. Most of those dollars — about $900,000 — were spent hiring paid circulators to put the issue on the ballot.
But the secretary of state’s office said Friday it has yet to get a spending report from foes. In fact, spokesman Matt Roberts said foes have not even filed to form a campaign committee, a legal prerequisite for spending any money for or against ballot measures.
There clearly has been some spending.
The restaurant association hired attorneys and filed suit on July 14 in a legal bid, unsuccessful to date, to have the measure removed from the November ballot. And the report due Friday is supposed to cover all expenses through Aug. 18.
Neither Steve Chucri, president of the restaurant group, nor Chiane Hewer, its spokeswoman, returned repeated calls seeking comment.
Roberts said his office has no legal opinion on whether the money spent in court over ballot measures has to be reported. But the legal expenses incurred by initiative supporters are listed, with their report saying the group paid $70,000 to the Torres Law Group to defend them in the lawsuit brought by the restaurant association.
Proposition 206, if approved in November, would immediately hike the state minimum wage from $8.05 an hour now to $10. It would hit $12 an hour by 2020, with future increases linked to inflation.
It also would require companies to provide five days of paid sick leave a year; small employers would have to offer three days.
There is one thing missing, however, from the report by the pro-206 group.
The report shows $998,684 of the donations coming from Living United for Change in Arizona.
But Tomas Robles, former director of LUCHA who is now chairing the campaign, said some of those dollars came from elsewhere. He said the organization has been the beneficiary of funds from groups like the Center for Popular Democracy and the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
Robles said, though, that the way Arizona law has been amended by the Republican-controlled legislature does not require detailing the specific donors or the amounts they gave.
While any spending by the restaurant association to date is unknown, the campaign is likely to be overshadowed, at least financially, by the fight over Proposition 205.
That measure would legalize the recreational use of marijuana by all adults; current law limits use of the drug to those who have certain medical conditions, a doctor’s recommendation and a state-issued ID card.
So far the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol has amassed more than $3 million in donations.
Of that, $778,950 comes from the Marijuana Policy Project, the national group that funded the successful 2010 campaign for medical marijuana. A separate Marijuana Policy Project Foundation kicked in another $236,572.
Virtually all of the other five- and six-figure donations come from existing medical marijuana dispensaries. Proposition 205 would give them first crack at getting a license for one of the fewer than 150 retail outlets that would be allowed until 2021.
So far the campaign has spent nearly $2.6 million.
The opposition Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy reported collected $950,011 but has spent less than $294,000.
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce is the largest single source of funds for the anti-205 campaign, so far putting in $114,000.
There’s also a $100,000 donation from T. Sanford Denny. He’s the chairman of United National Corp., which Bloomberg says is a privately owned holding company for First Premier Bank.
Another $100,000 was chipped in by Randy Kendrick, wife of Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick.
The new reports also show that a branch of the Service Employees International Union spent $2.1 million in its ill-fated attempt to put a measure on the ballot to cap the compensation of non-medical hospital executives at $450,000 a year. Proponents gave up after a lawsuit was filed contending that many of the people who circulated petitions had not complied with state law, voiding any of the signatures they collected.
By: Howard Fischer
Source
National day of action set to protest Dakota Access Pipeline
National day of action set to protest Dakota Access Pipeline
A national day of action will take place Tuesday, Nov. 15, to call for a permanent rejection of the Dakota Access Pipeline under the threat of a Donald Trump presidency.
This call to action...
A national day of action will take place Tuesday, Nov. 15, to call for a permanent rejection of the Dakota Access Pipeline under the threat of a Donald Trump presidency.
This call to action from indigenous leaders at Standing Rock, North Dakota, is in response to increased violent repression from militarized police as the pipeline company continues construction on sacred land despite a voluntary hold by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to a news release from organizers.
More than 200 actions have been planned, with thousands of people expected to participate.
The Indigenous Environmental Network and Honor the Earth is coordinating the effort in solidarity with indigenous peoples at Standing Rock and with support from other climate and social justice groups across the country, including: 350.org, Native Organizers Alliance, National Nurses United, Hip Hop Caucus, CREDO, BOLD Alliance, Greenpeace USA, Beyond Extreme Energy, Rainforest Action Network, Stand.earth, Oil Change International, Our Revolution, Center for Popular Democracy, Powershift Network, Earthworks, Food and Water Watch, Justice and Witness Ministries, United Church of Christ, Center for Biological Diversity, Daily Kos, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Iraq Veterans against the War, Ruckus Society, Friends of the Earth, Climate Hawks Vote, and many more.
Actions will be held in Washington, New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and dozens of other cities across the country and worldwide.
A list of actions and partner organizations can be found here, including details for actions in Wisconsin cities of Green Bay, Milwaukee, Madison and Stevens Point.
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Una victoria imperfecta para los trabajadores de Nueva York
Millones de neoyorquinos están celebrando el acuerdo de esta semana que aumentó el sueldo mínimo en el estado. Este pacto hace que familias en todo el estado puedan aspirar a un futuro mejor y...
Millones de neoyorquinos están celebrando el acuerdo de esta semana que aumentó el sueldo mínimo en el estado. Este pacto hace que familias en todo el estado puedan aspirar a un futuro mejor y envía un mensaje importante a otros estados que contemplan incrementar los salarios.
El acuerdo es prueba del poder de la movilización. Hace apenas unos años habría sido imposible imaginarse los titulares actuales. Cuando New York Communities for Change organizó la primera huelga de empleados de restaurantes de comida rápida hace casi cuatro años, la gente pensó que estábamos locos.
Como el gobierno federal postergó varias veces incrementar de manera significativa el sueldo mínimo a nivel nacional, parecía imposible lograr un aumento de paga.
En respuesta, los trabajadores de dichos restaurantes y otros empleados con sueldos bajos decidieron luchar por mejor paga y calidad de vida, lo que dio inicio a un movimiento que se propagó a ciudades y pueblos en todo el país.
No es coincidencia que la Lucha por $15 se iniciara aquí, en la ciudad de Nueva York. El nivel de disparidad en nuestra ciudad es uno de los peores del país desde hace tiempo y, en años recientes, ha batido récords históricos.
Según una encuesta de la Oficina del Censo de 2014, el 5 por ciento de hogares en Manhattan con más altos ingresos ganaron 88 veces más que el 20 por ciento más pobre. Y el año pasado, los trabajadores con el salario mínimo no podían pagar el alquiler medio en ningún vecindario de la ciudad de Nueva York.
Desde hace tiempo no se incrementan los salarios al ritmo del costo de vida. De hecho, el Economic Policy Institute concluyó que el salario de $9.00 por hora a nivel estatal es muy inferior al que sería si simplemente hubiera aumentado desde 1970 conforme a la inflación. El mismo estudio concluyó que si se tomara en cuenta la inflación y el costo de vida más alto, el salario mínimo hoy en día tendría el mismo valor que en 1970 si este año fuera $14.27 por hora, casi el nivel acordado por la Legislatura del Estado de Nueva York.
El año pasado, el gobernador Cuomo tomó la acertada decisión de exigir sueldos más altos para los empleados de restaurantes de comida rápida, quienes estaban al frente de la lucha por reformas. Pero al movilizar un sector por uno se corría el riesgo de desatender las necesidades de muchos trabajadores. Para realmente producir un cambio, las reglas se deben aplicar a todos de manera equitativa. El acuerdo de la semana pasada hizo eso y permitió que los empleados de todos los sectores económicos finalmente puedan aspirar a algo más que el próximo cheque de pago.
El acuerdo es una victoria para los empleados de la ciudad de Nueva York. Sin embargo, pasa por alto a las familias trabajadoras de la parte norte del estado. Si bien más de un millón de trabajadores mal remunerados en la ciudad verán un aumento de sueldo a $15 por hora para fines de 2018, aquellos en Long Island solo lograrán $15 en casi seis años y los de la región norte deben esperar cinco años para llegar apenas a $12.50. Aunque el acuerdo permite que después se aumente el sueldo a $15, el índice dependerá de análisis y la inflación, y eso podría tomar varios años.
Es una espera terriblemente larga, dado el costo de vida cada vez mayor al norte de la ciudad. Por ejemplo, el contraIor del estado de Nueva York ha detectado que el costo de vivienda está subiendo drásticamente y que por lo menos una de cada cinco personas en cada condado – incluidos algunos muy al norte como Warren y Monroe– gasta más de un tercio de su salario en el alquiler. En algunos estados la mitad de los pobladores deben gastar eso. Si agregamos a esto los gastos como servicios públicos y alimentos, es casi imposible ahorrar para los estudios universitarios y la jubilación.
Es imperativo que ahora los legisladores completen la tarea y les den a todos los neoyorquinos la oportunidad de ganar un sueldo decente.
Pocos días antes de que se finalizara el acuerdo en Albany, California nos demostró que es posible tener un sueldo de $15 a nivel estatal. Nuestro estado debe cumplir con la promesa de la Lucha por $15 en todo el estado y permitir que todos los trabajadores puedan mantenerse a sí mismos y a su familia de manera adecuada. De lo contrario los neoyorquinos seguirán haciendo lo que llevan haciendo desde hace casi cuatro años: arriesgarlo todo para ofrecerle una vida mejor a su familia.
By JoEllen Chernow & Jonathan Westin
Source
Under Trump, local governments become activists
Christine Knapp had been on maternity leave for nearly three months, but on Wednesday the director of the mayor’s Office of Sustainability hoisted a diaper bag on her shoulder, packed her 11-week-...
Christine Knapp had been on maternity leave for nearly three months, but on Wednesday the director of the mayor’s Office of Sustainability hoisted a diaper bag on her shoulder, packed her 11-week-old daughter, Sabine, into a stroller, maneuvered into a creaky elevator in City Hall, and rode up to the mayor’s reception room. This was just too important to miss.
Read the full article here.
Many Women Are Hidden From Unemployment Numbers, Study Says
Buzzfeed - 05.21.2015 - Randa Jama, a wheelchair...
Buzzfeed - 05.21.2015 - Randa Jama, a wheelchair attendant at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, would be referred to as a “voluntary” part-time worker in the jobs data produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). She only works weekends, spending weekdays caring for her children, in large part because she couldn’t afford a babysitter without much better hours and pay.
Though Jama says she would prefer to be working full-time, that information doesn’t filter through to the nation’s monthly employment report. The same goes for many other workers — almost a million, mainly women, one advocacy group estimates — who can’t work the full-time hours they want to, and aren’t classed alongside other unemployed or underemployed people in official data.
The distinction comes from a question, asked as part of the BLS population survey, about underemployment caused by “economic” or “non-economic reasons.” It classes factors like child care as non-economic reasons people aren’t working more hours - and commonly refers to these workers as “voluntarily” part time.
“The number of people working part time for economic reasons is a closely watched economic indicator,” reads the interviewer’s manual for the survey, as “a measure of underemployment and of the inability of the nation’s economy to generate the types of jobs desired.”
Those working part-time for “non-economic reasons” (sometimes referred to as “voluntarily” part-time) are not watched the same way.
“They reflect personal, rather than business, reasons for working part time,” the manual says. It means measurements of the economy’s ability to create full-time work could be overlooking many part-time working women who are not working full-time because of a lack of child care, or other family obligations.
Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, argues that while the terminology “economic” and “non-economic” is correct, describing workers in need of child care as “voluntarily” part time is misleading.
“What we’re trying to measure is the strength of the economy,” Baker told BuzzFeed News. “For that, they’re asking the right question: ‘If the economy were stronger, would these people have jobs?’ But if the economy were stronger and these women still didn’t have child care, they still wouldn’t be working full-time.”
Baker said the unemployment numbers also don’t account for women who would like to be working full- or part-time, but aren’t actively looking for work because they can’t afford child care. Similarly, workers who are part-time because of transportation issues — such as an inability to get to and from jobs in the suburbs — would be counted as “voluntarily” part time for “non-economic reasons,” despite wanting full employment.
A recent study by the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD), a liberal advocacy group, estimated about a million women want to work full-time but can’t due to these “voluntary” reasons.
“In theory the economy could be robust enough where these women could have their needs met,” said Aditi Sen, a CPD researcher who co-authored the study. Policymakers may put less focus on full employment for women, she argued, if the official statistics don’t include their desire for full time work.
Justin Wolfers, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and professor at the University of Michigan, said that the BLS isn’t hiding any data.
“There’s no doubt that above and beyond the people we count as unemployed there is slack at a number of margins,” he said, giving the example of jobless workers who are not actively seeking work but who would take jobs if they were offered them. This group is also not included in the top-line numbers of the jobs report.
Wolfers said the BLS publishes extensive data and statistics on those margins, adding that the CPD report may not be a “reflection on the current moment, but something that’s been going on.”
Karen Kosanovich, an economist with the Current Population Survey program at the BLS, said the survey asks those who are working part-time for non-economic reasons if they would prefer to be working full time, but their answers are not released with the jobs report data.
“The reason for part time work and the desire for full time work are separate,” said Kosanovich. “They’re asked in separate questions, and we don’t have any tables that include that [latter] information.”
The last time the BLS population survey questions were revised was back in 1994. New questions helped capture a population of workers that previously went unrecorded.
“The biggest thing the new questions caught were women and men working at the part-time margin, especially women doing work outside the home,” said Brad Hershbein, a visiting fellow at The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institute.
Both Hershbein and Baker said adding new questions in the BLS survey could help capture the growing share of contemporary workers with irregular schedules — such as those moonlighting as an Uber driver for 15 hours a week. They could show more people in the workforce working part-time — with ramifications for overall data on unemployment — just like the questions added in the ’90s did.
“They made these changes [to the survey] to keep up to date with who’s working and what work looks like now, but they haven’t updated it in 20 years,” Hershbein said. “And it turns out the way they asked the questions increased the labor force participation.”
Source: Buzzfeed
Pittsburgh police, community absorb news of Dallas shootings
Pittsburgh police, community absorb news of Dallas shootings
Though far from Dallas, Minnesota or Louisiana, leaders here recognized on Friday the historic nature of a chain reaction of police-community tragedies and sought to minimize the risk of more...
Though far from Dallas, Minnesota or Louisiana, leaders here recognized on Friday the historic nature of a chain reaction of police-community tragedies and sought to minimize the risk of more violence.
A shooting such as the one in Dallas “knocks us out of our complacency,” said Howard Burton, chief of the Penn Hills police department. Although most people support officers and appreciate their protection, he said, “We know there’s a group of people out there that move in that direction, that move [aggressively] toward law enforcement.”
Such concerns led Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto to call for a peace gathering next week of law enforcement, church, activist, foundation, labor, corporate and government leaders.
Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 1 president Robert Swartzwelder, who is a city officer, said he has authorized the lodge’s three-member funeral detail to go to Dallas. Normally, the lodge would be represented at funerals in Pennsylvania and adjoining states, but the extent of the tragedy in Dallas warrants a presence, he said, adding that it’s “extremely important to the law enforcement community and the family of the police officers” that they see support.
He added that the ambush will be “in the mind of very police officer that’s working” for some time.
Five law enforcement officers were fatally shot Thursday night in Dallas, with seven others injured. That was broadly interpreted as a deranged reaction to the deaths of Louisiana’s Alton Sterling and Minnesotan Philando Castile in encounters with police.
Leaders of both political parties decried all three tragedies.
“We have to ask ourselves, is this the type of country we want? I believe the answer is no,” said Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat. “When incidents like those in Louisiana, Minnesota and Dallas happen, it raises concerns and questions, and we must demand change and action.”
Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican, wrote in a statement that the “disgusting attack has no possible justification.”
He also cited a Dallas police spokesman’s account that the violence there “was motivated by recent police shootings. Such incidents — including the shocking and disturbing videos from Minnesota and Louisiana — must be investigated thoroughly, and if any official is found to have violated the law, he should be severely punished.”
At a police accountability protest Downtown, officers escorting the marchers seemed “nervous, and that’s understandable, but they were very helpful and cooperative,” said Ana Maria Archila, co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, which organized the demonstration. “They’ve allowed us to do the march we envisioned, and we appreciate that.”
Pittsburgh police Chief Cameron McLay noted that concerns for lives of police officers and black citizens “are not mutually exclusive at all.”
Some suburban Allegheny County chiefs said they were running their departments as usual, and others declined to say whether they had made changes. None of those contacted by the Post-Gazette reported any threats to their officers.
Voices of the civil rights community said they want intensified attention to police-community problems — but not through violence.
“This is not going to happen in Allegheny County, because we’re going to be meeting with the young folks,” said Constance Parker, president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the NAACP. The message: “Before you get angry, think, because there’s costs you pay when you get very angry. If you don’t pay it with the law, you pay it with your body.”
By Rich Lord
Source
Trabajadores demandan freno a la ‘epidemia’ de robo de salarios en NYC
Nueva York— Freno a la epidemia de robo de salarios fue la consigna que gritaron sin cesar unas 30 empleadas domésticas y jornaleros frente a la Corte de Brooklyn. La acción, liderada por el...
Nueva York— Freno a la epidemia de robo de salarios fue la consigna que gritaron sin cesar unas 30 empleadas domésticas y jornaleros frente a la Corte de Brooklyn. La acción, liderada por el Proyecto de Justicia Laboral (WJP), sirvió para exponer a un contratista inescrupuloso como parte de “una maquinaria que exprime a las familias trabajadoras”.
Los defensores denunciaron que la creación de’ empresas fantasma’ es una estrategia que los empleadores para esquivar a las autoridades y seguir en el negocio pese a tener casos abiertos en las cortes de la ciudad.
Samuel Just, propietario de Just Cleaning, fue arrestado el verano pasado por la Fiscalía de Brooklyn luego de que el WJP documentara varios casos de robo de salario. Pese a la presión de las autoridades y de los grupos defensores de los jornaleros, el empresario se niega a pagar a las víctimas, la mayoría mujeres latinas.
“El robo de salario es un crimen. No hay otra manera de calificarlo”, sentenció Ligia Guallpa, directora ejecutiva del WJP.
Otras organizaciones se unieron a la protesta para denunciar que el robo de salario afecta radicalmente a las comunidades inmigrantes. Gonzalo Mercado, director ejecutivo de Staten Island Community Job Center, explicó que los contratistas están creando empresas fantasmas para evadir a las autoridades y las pesquisas de los activistas.
“Hemos visto a empleadores circulando por las paradas de jornaleros con camionetas sin logotipos. Su estrategia es evitar ser identificados”, sentenció. “Muchos trabajadores no saben quién los contrata, lo que hace más difícil la recuperación de los salarios”.
El mexicano Oscar Lezama (36) contó que una compañía de Staten Island, que se dedica a la instalación de cocinas, se negó a pagarle unos mil dólares por horas extra.
“No sabía para quién trabajaba. Nunca vi nombres o logotipos que identificaran a la compañía”, comentó.
La organización Staten Island Community Job Center ayudó a Lezama a recuperar su salario mediante negociaciones directas con el propietario, pero Mercado dijo que identificar a la compañía implicó una investigación exhaustiva.
“Las organizaciones, de alguna manera, estamos tomando el rol del Departamento de Trabajo para recuperar los salarios”, dijo Mercado. “Muchos contratistas prefieren la negociación directa y así evitar comparecer en una corte, lo que reduce el tiempo de recuperación de salario, algo que beneficia al trabajador”.
Los defensores están pidiendo mano dura para los contratistas que reinciden en el robo de salario. Parte de sus esfuerzos implica que la Ciudad revoque o niegue la renovación de las licencias.
“Los contratistas recurren a subcontratistas para contratar jornaleros y luego no pagarles”, dijo Guallpa. “En las cortes se defienden argumentando que nunca contrataron al trabajador”.
De acuerdo con la activista, Samuel Just estaría recurriendo a estas estrategias para evadir su responsabilidad. El empresario presuntamente recurre a subcontratistas y empresas fantasma para continuar en el negocio y esquivar a los fiscales, algo que WJP está documentando.
La protesta frente a la Corte de Brooklyn fue la quinta acción colectiva convocada por WJP para exponer al propietario de Just Cleaning, pero también para crear conciencia acerca de que el robo de salario es un problema, que se agudizó en los últimos años, según defensores.
“La falta de denuncia, el miedo de los trabajadores indocumentados y las leyes débiles están nutriendo el abuso de los empleadores”, se lamentó Omar Henríquez, organizador de la Red Nacional de Trabajadores por Día (NDLON). “El robo de salario implica la evasión de impuestos. Es perjudicial para nuestros gobiernos y comunidades”.
El Servicio de Impuestos Internos (IRS) estima que los empleadores clasifican erróneamente a millones de empleados cada año en el país, evitando en promedio cerca de $4.000 en impuestos federales por cada trabajador.
Las víctimas de Just declinaron hacer comentarios por recomendación de sus abogados, pero estuvieron en la protesta demandando justicia. Varias llamadas al empleador no fueron atendidas al cierre de esta edición.
Un estimado de 2.1 millones de neoyorquinos son víctimas de robo de salario al año, lo que representa una pérdida de $3.2 mil millones en pagos y beneficios, según el reporte “By a Thousand Cuts: The Complex Face of Wage Theft in New York” del Center for Popular Democracy Action (CPDA).
Según la Fiscalía de Brooklyn, Just recogía a los trabajadores en una van en la esquina de las avenidas Marcy y Division -en el barrio de Williamsburg-, y les ofrecía entre $10 y $15 la hora. El contratista hizo trabajar a los jornaleros hasta 27 horas seguidas durante la celebración de Pesaj o Pascua Judía, que implica una intensa limpieza de los hogares.
Al menos 11 trabajadores -la mayoría mujeres- habrían sido víctimas de Just, pero sólo cinco se atrevieron a denunciarlo, según los activistas.
“El castigo de empleadores como Just motivará la denuncia y enviará un mensaje claro a otros contratistas que violan las leyes. Sólo así frenaremos la epidemia de robo de salario en Nueva York”, dijo Guallpa.
Source: El Diario
Snowy Protest at Philly Fed
The Inquirer - March 5, 2015, by Joseph DiStefano - Ten cold protesters from a national group called Fed Up gathered at the Federal Reserve of Philadelphia in the storm this afternoon to urge the...
The Inquirer - March 5, 2015, by Joseph DiStefano - Ten cold protesters from a national group called Fed Up gathered at the Federal Reserve of Philadelphia in the storm this afternoon to urge the Fed to pay more attention to boosting employment and listening to groups representing wage workers and poor people.
The group, which includes labor union and church groups as well as local affilates such as North Philadelphia-based Action United, says its national leaders met with Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen in Washington last year, but they have had a tough time getting Fed officials who oversee regional banks and regulatory teams, such as Charles Plosser, the free-market economist who retired in January as the Philly Fed President, to take them seriously. Other Fed Up affilates held protests in New York, Charlotte, St. Louis, and other Fed cities today. More are planned, said Shawn Sebastian of the liberal, Brooklyn-based Center for Popular Democracy, one of the groups supporting Fed Up.
"Plosser never gave us a meeting," said Action United leader Kendra Brooks, who said she's been organziing poor people to press for improved government job, education and housing programs since she was laid off from her management job at an Easter Seals affiliate in 2012. Herb Taylor, a veteran community-development manager for the Philly Fed, and other local Fed officials did meet with a Fed Up delegation last fall, and Philly Fed leaders have also held meetings with labor unions and community groups, Fed spokesman Jim Ely reminded the group.
"But they gave us crumbs," said Brooks, noting that labor and community-group leaders were not part of the inner circle who selected Plosser's replacement, University of Delaware President Patrick Harker, a Philly Fed board member who will take the top Philly Fed job in July.
Under Ed Boehne, Philadelphia Fed President from the 1970s into the 1990s, the Philly Fed forced banks to expand their inner-city direct-lending programs and ensured labor representation on the Fed board.
Brooks questioned whether Boehne's successors share that committment to listening to and serving all sectors. She said corporate executives like Comcast chief financial officer Michael Angelakis and investor James Nevels, who led the committee that chose Harker, don't represent a wide range of residents of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve district, which covers eastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Delaware.
"Comcast does not represent our community, the universities do not represent the community. We need our voices to be heard, also," she said.
Group leaders said they are frustrated the Fed has not pushed banks to be more flexible in setting payment terms for stressed homeowners, or show the forebearance banks often show to troubled corporate borrowers.
Action United member Lionel Rice said he's running out of time. He said he hadn't been able to find a job paying more than fast-food wages since he was laid off after 20 years at the Penn Maid dairy plant in Northeast Philadelphia three years ago. He said a housing finance agency is preparing to foreclose on his home in Olney.
Ely said he would bring the group's petition to Fed officials' attention.
Source
If the Fed Raises the Interest Rate, I’m One of the Americans Who Will Lose
When I worked my way through college with a job at Chipotle, I often worked a so-called "clopen shift." I was closing the store I managed at 2 a.m. and returning to open the restaurant at 6 a.m....
When I worked my way through college with a job at Chipotle, I often worked a so-called "clopen shift." I was closing the store I managed at 2 a.m. and returning to open the restaurant at 6 a.m. The work schedule didn't leave much time for sleep, let alone schoolwork. But with graduation around the corner, I figured that soon everything was going to change.
I would graduate, and I would get a job that would allow me to pay the bills, take care of my 8-year old daughter, and sleep at night.
But, since graduating this past spring, I have sent out 75 resumés but have only been invited for one interview. I’m looking for jobs that just aren’t there.
When the Federal Reserve gathers Thursday at their Federal Open Market Committee meeting to decide whether or not they will raise the interest rate, I hope they will keep me and others like me in mind.
Congress created the Federal Reserve with a two-pronged mission: to control inflation andto promote maximum employment. All the data shows that there is no risk of inflation – in fact, inflation is still running well-below the Fed’s own conservative target. But the Fed is still considering raising the interest rates, even though raising rates would do real harm to American workers who are still looking for jobs or working for low-wages, like me.
A higher interest rate means that fewer jobs will be created, and that the wages of workers at the bottom will remain too low to live on. That’s because when the Fed raises rates, they are deliberately trying to slow down the economy. They’re saying that there are too many jobs and wages are too high. They’re saying that the economy is exactly where it should be, that people like me are exactly where we should be.
It was not supposed to be this way – after all, I have a business management degree. If the Fed chooses to slow down the economy I may have to give up on getting a job I'm qualified for – the kind of job that I went to school for. I could find a job at McDonalds or Taco Bell, and go back to a work life that will leave me sleepless and struggling to support my daughter. That would be painful for me and my family and bad for the economy. I cannot imagine that this is what Fed officials are looking to do.
And yet, the Fed is considering a rate increase, even though working families – especially Black and Latino working families –are still struggling. Today, 19.5 percent of Black people are unemployed or underemployed, and 15.8 percent of Latinos are unemployed and underemployed. For Black high school graduates in the 17-20-year-old range who haven’t enrolled in college, the unemployment rate is over 50 percent.
If the Fed raises interest rates, we are ones who lose.
That the conservative powers in the Federal Reserve would even consider raising the interest rates shows us a lot about who they’re prioritizing in their decision. It shows us who the Fed is looking out for: the wealthy, Wall Street, and bankers. They are willing to sacrifice the livelihoods and aspirations of young people like me, whole communities of color, and low-income workers all purportedly to fight an inflation threat that doesn’t even exist.
The Fed’s decision on Thursday should be simple. One of the Fed’s mandates is to foster full employment, and wages still have not shown signs of significant growth since the financial crash. That’s a clear sign that America is far from full employment — and the Fed has not yet fulfilled its mandate.
Many in the Fed are claiming that our economy is in recovery, but for who? For Black and Latino Americans, the recovery hasn’t come yet. This week, we’ll see if the Fed is serious about promoting maximum employment for all Americans or just watching out for the few who are already doing well.
Source: CommonDreams
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